I posted this on another forum and was asked if I'd post it over here as well. So here it is.
Ive been asked if I sharpen my personal knives differently than my customers knives and if so why?
The short answer is yes I do and because I want to.
Detailed.
I sharpen the blade on my Swiss Army Knife (SAK) at a low angle of 10 degrees (20 inclusive) then top it off at 12 degrees (24 inclusive). This is sharpened and polished to as sharp an edge as I can get. This knife is used every day and touched up as needed either on a hone or with the polishing tapes again almost daily. I may reset the bevel on it every 4 months. Tie straps on various computer equipment etc and plastic lock down straps on pallets seem to take a toll on the edge, why exactly this is I dont know. Dont matter what angle or edge it is tie straps, the plastic in these, just does a number on them.
My hand forged neck knife gets sharpened at 22 degrees and a final edge of 25 degrees and is not taken beyond a 220 grit nor is it polished in any way. This is a final emergency knife. It never cuts anything but seat belts once a month then is sharpened back up. It wont shave hair very well but its toothy and will zap through a seat belt or point to hilt cut through a shoulder roast just fine.
My belt knife is an assisted opening lock back I picked up on eBay who made it I dont recall. It isnt marked either. This knife used to have a pronounced swept up point on it. I changed it to a North American style Tanto point. This shortened the blade length to 3.5 It had scallops on the bottom 1/3 of the blade and I ground these out using the Tormek at the same time I changed the point. I sharpen this at 20 degrees, 22 degrees and 25 degrees. The first two angles are polished to high mirror. The final was done with a 220 grit stone, the burr taken off with trailing strokes on 220 grit paper. This knife is intended for seat belt and aggressive cutting. At which it excels. The steel in this blade is tough stuff tempered, hardened and cryo treated. A-2 steel I think. Ive had this knife going on 3 years. It gets sharpened once a month whether I use it or not.
My kitchen knifes.
My cleavers are a mix of single chisel edge and double bevel edge types Ive picked up over the years. My big whacking meat cleaver I sharpen out at 25 27 and 30 degrees. My smaller meat cleaver is sharpened at 20 and 25 degrees. I dont bother polishing the edges on these and rarely go past 320 grit though for a big ding Ill take it out with the Tormek with it graded to 1000 grit. Meat cleavers get dings all there is to that. Being able to get them sharp again is a breeze for me. Takes longer setting up the Tormek and grading it than it does to sharpen a cleaver with it.
Single chisel edge cleavers all get done at 15 degrees and 17 degrees polished to a mirror. The backs are flattened on a glass plate and silicone carbide powder. Usually used for veggies but occasionally I do whack a chicken with them. Hey they work.
Boning knives. 10 degrees 12 degrees and 15 degrees. I polish these as much as I can at each edge. For a final finish Ill raise the angle just a hair (15.5 degrees?) and ensure I truly am polishing the edge with the lightest stroke possible, a pull stroke on the EdgePro using 4000 grit tape is a beautiful thing. I want the polish so that the edge will slip over bone and not dig in.
Paring knives. These Im kind of ambivalent about. I dont use them much, I like a large blade, while the wife tends to use them for everything. I used to sharpen them very fine and polish the heck out of them. But because the wife uses them for everything Ive gone to 12 and 15 degree and no polish.
Fish knifes. I have bunch of these from 7 inches to 17 inches. Try working on a 30 pound fish with a standard fillet knife and you get disgusted in a hurry. I sharpen most of these at a 10, 12, and 15 degrees. These are sharpened as good as I can go. Even dead the fish seem to jump right out of their bones as soon as they are touched with the blades.
The exception is a set of strange fish knives I got at a garage sale. One is just over 9 inches and the other right at 15 inches. There is very little taper to these blades at 13/16th wide at the heel and 9/16th at the tip. These are hammer forged blades and both show the hammer marks on the spine, and high on the blade, the back side more so than the front (right side). Carbon steel and they will tarnish and rust. Neither has a point to speak of a bit of a slanted tip, not full enough to be a Tanto but kind of rounder if that makes any sense. These were in awful shape when I got them. (probably why I got them for a buck a piece.) The steel in these appears to be a sandwich. Softer outer with harder steel inner. They sharpen easily but stay sharp a long time. These have what I call a semi-chisel edge. (I know now that this is asymmetrical sharpening) I sharpen the right side at 10 and 12 degrees. Polish fully at each angle. The back (left side) I only ever hone and at a very low angle about 5 degrees I figure.
This practice started by accident when I was going to flatten the back as I would a chisel and prior to doing so I lifted the back to take the burr off. I got called away before I got the honing done, was about half done removing the burr actually, and had not yet gotten to flattening the back. The wife put things away and Id forgotten about it. I was filleting a batch of lake trout a few days later with the knife and it worked differently, much better results and feel, I could actually hear it whispering through the flesh. I had to think on it before I realized what had happened. Ive stayed with this ever since on these two knives. Works like a charm and I find that when ever I do get to filleting larger fish (excluding Pike) I reach for one of these first. I have no idea what make these are or what they were originally intended for but as a fillet knives they work great.
Hatchets. I sharpen the right side at 20 and 25degrees and the left side at 8 and 10 degrees. Im right handed and I find that being able to have a larger surface contact on my control side (left) gives me a precision I dont have with a traditional sharpening.
Axes. Prior to sharpening axes (or hatchets for that matter) I chop oiled sand. I know it sounds weird. It polishes the head something terrific. It also whacks the edge to a consistency that I find easier to work with. Use as fine a sand as you can find. I live on sandy soil so I just go out to a local area sand dune and get four 5 gallon buckets each year. I pour it into a old wash tub, put about a litre of cutting oil on it, stir it up and go to town. Last year I used this on 300 axes and a like number of polaskis I had to renew this mixture twice in doing these. To dispose of the sand pour it out soak it down with gasoline and toss on a match. Note: Ensure that you clean off all residual oil off the axe/hatchet before sharpening.
General use axes are sharpened at 30 and 35 degrees and are not polished. Splitting axes. I go 25, 30 and 35 and polish the heck out of everything. Also I tend to not put a true edge on these. I leave them blunt. I will go so far as to run a light file over the edge if I do go to far and over sharpen them. The edge is stronger, they arent for shaving but the shape makes an excellent splitter, the polished surfaces dont stick so much. A tip. When splitting wood give your axe head a shot of no stick spray. Teflon, CLP, break free or even PAM works in a pinch. (actually this is one area besides gum removal that WD-40 works well in) Spray your axe head every 4th or 5th block of wood.
Big game skinning knives. 12, 15, and 17 degrees. Polish all edges as they form, making sure burr is totally removed at each edge.
Small game knives. 10 and 12 degrees. High polish. When you can give the rabbit a hair cut with out cutting the skin youre there.
Continued in Part 2
Ive been asked if I sharpen my personal knives differently than my customers knives and if so why?
The short answer is yes I do and because I want to.
Detailed.
I sharpen the blade on my Swiss Army Knife (SAK) at a low angle of 10 degrees (20 inclusive) then top it off at 12 degrees (24 inclusive). This is sharpened and polished to as sharp an edge as I can get. This knife is used every day and touched up as needed either on a hone or with the polishing tapes again almost daily. I may reset the bevel on it every 4 months. Tie straps on various computer equipment etc and plastic lock down straps on pallets seem to take a toll on the edge, why exactly this is I dont know. Dont matter what angle or edge it is tie straps, the plastic in these, just does a number on them.
My hand forged neck knife gets sharpened at 22 degrees and a final edge of 25 degrees and is not taken beyond a 220 grit nor is it polished in any way. This is a final emergency knife. It never cuts anything but seat belts once a month then is sharpened back up. It wont shave hair very well but its toothy and will zap through a seat belt or point to hilt cut through a shoulder roast just fine.
My belt knife is an assisted opening lock back I picked up on eBay who made it I dont recall. It isnt marked either. This knife used to have a pronounced swept up point on it. I changed it to a North American style Tanto point. This shortened the blade length to 3.5 It had scallops on the bottom 1/3 of the blade and I ground these out using the Tormek at the same time I changed the point. I sharpen this at 20 degrees, 22 degrees and 25 degrees. The first two angles are polished to high mirror. The final was done with a 220 grit stone, the burr taken off with trailing strokes on 220 grit paper. This knife is intended for seat belt and aggressive cutting. At which it excels. The steel in this blade is tough stuff tempered, hardened and cryo treated. A-2 steel I think. Ive had this knife going on 3 years. It gets sharpened once a month whether I use it or not.
My kitchen knifes.
My cleavers are a mix of single chisel edge and double bevel edge types Ive picked up over the years. My big whacking meat cleaver I sharpen out at 25 27 and 30 degrees. My smaller meat cleaver is sharpened at 20 and 25 degrees. I dont bother polishing the edges on these and rarely go past 320 grit though for a big ding Ill take it out with the Tormek with it graded to 1000 grit. Meat cleavers get dings all there is to that. Being able to get them sharp again is a breeze for me. Takes longer setting up the Tormek and grading it than it does to sharpen a cleaver with it.
Single chisel edge cleavers all get done at 15 degrees and 17 degrees polished to a mirror. The backs are flattened on a glass plate and silicone carbide powder. Usually used for veggies but occasionally I do whack a chicken with them. Hey they work.
Boning knives. 10 degrees 12 degrees and 15 degrees. I polish these as much as I can at each edge. For a final finish Ill raise the angle just a hair (15.5 degrees?) and ensure I truly am polishing the edge with the lightest stroke possible, a pull stroke on the EdgePro using 4000 grit tape is a beautiful thing. I want the polish so that the edge will slip over bone and not dig in.
Paring knives. These Im kind of ambivalent about. I dont use them much, I like a large blade, while the wife tends to use them for everything. I used to sharpen them very fine and polish the heck out of them. But because the wife uses them for everything Ive gone to 12 and 15 degree and no polish.
Fish knifes. I have bunch of these from 7 inches to 17 inches. Try working on a 30 pound fish with a standard fillet knife and you get disgusted in a hurry. I sharpen most of these at a 10, 12, and 15 degrees. These are sharpened as good as I can go. Even dead the fish seem to jump right out of their bones as soon as they are touched with the blades.
The exception is a set of strange fish knives I got at a garage sale. One is just over 9 inches and the other right at 15 inches. There is very little taper to these blades at 13/16th wide at the heel and 9/16th at the tip. These are hammer forged blades and both show the hammer marks on the spine, and high on the blade, the back side more so than the front (right side). Carbon steel and they will tarnish and rust. Neither has a point to speak of a bit of a slanted tip, not full enough to be a Tanto but kind of rounder if that makes any sense. These were in awful shape when I got them. (probably why I got them for a buck a piece.) The steel in these appears to be a sandwich. Softer outer with harder steel inner. They sharpen easily but stay sharp a long time. These have what I call a semi-chisel edge. (I know now that this is asymmetrical sharpening) I sharpen the right side at 10 and 12 degrees. Polish fully at each angle. The back (left side) I only ever hone and at a very low angle about 5 degrees I figure.
This practice started by accident when I was going to flatten the back as I would a chisel and prior to doing so I lifted the back to take the burr off. I got called away before I got the honing done, was about half done removing the burr actually, and had not yet gotten to flattening the back. The wife put things away and Id forgotten about it. I was filleting a batch of lake trout a few days later with the knife and it worked differently, much better results and feel, I could actually hear it whispering through the flesh. I had to think on it before I realized what had happened. Ive stayed with this ever since on these two knives. Works like a charm and I find that when ever I do get to filleting larger fish (excluding Pike) I reach for one of these first. I have no idea what make these are or what they were originally intended for but as a fillet knives they work great.
Hatchets. I sharpen the right side at 20 and 25degrees and the left side at 8 and 10 degrees. Im right handed and I find that being able to have a larger surface contact on my control side (left) gives me a precision I dont have with a traditional sharpening.
Axes. Prior to sharpening axes (or hatchets for that matter) I chop oiled sand. I know it sounds weird. It polishes the head something terrific. It also whacks the edge to a consistency that I find easier to work with. Use as fine a sand as you can find. I live on sandy soil so I just go out to a local area sand dune and get four 5 gallon buckets each year. I pour it into a old wash tub, put about a litre of cutting oil on it, stir it up and go to town. Last year I used this on 300 axes and a like number of polaskis I had to renew this mixture twice in doing these. To dispose of the sand pour it out soak it down with gasoline and toss on a match. Note: Ensure that you clean off all residual oil off the axe/hatchet before sharpening.
General use axes are sharpened at 30 and 35 degrees and are not polished. Splitting axes. I go 25, 30 and 35 and polish the heck out of everything. Also I tend to not put a true edge on these. I leave them blunt. I will go so far as to run a light file over the edge if I do go to far and over sharpen them. The edge is stronger, they arent for shaving but the shape makes an excellent splitter, the polished surfaces dont stick so much. A tip. When splitting wood give your axe head a shot of no stick spray. Teflon, CLP, break free or even PAM works in a pinch. (actually this is one area besides gum removal that WD-40 works well in) Spray your axe head every 4th or 5th block of wood.
Big game skinning knives. 12, 15, and 17 degrees. Polish all edges as they form, making sure burr is totally removed at each edge.
Small game knives. 10 and 12 degrees. High polish. When you can give the rabbit a hair cut with out cutting the skin youre there.
Continued in Part 2
